Consider your design carefully.
The rotund feline that people over five love to hate got his own feature film last year. And with it came a lot of promotional material. You might remember some posters featuring the cat in question peeking up from the edge of the paper with a pair of Tom-Cruise-in-__Risky-Business__ sunglasses.
Well, this past week I went to see Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.
Now. Garfield was released quite a while ago. So long ago, in fact, that the DVD has moved off of the “New Releases” shelf in most video stores. Revenge of the Sith, on the other hand, is brand new. One was a family comedy featuring a CGI cat. The other was a sci-fi action movie that people brought their four- and five-year old kids to see in spite of the fact that it is rated PG-13. What could the connection between these two possibly be?
The popcorn bag!
Yes, the Abingdon Cinemall where I saw Revenge was, in fact, still using Garfield promotional bags to peddle their popcorn. This is something I love about the Cinemall, actually – the popcorn bags run months behind the actual movies. At least, they do when you go to matinees. It gives you a feeling like you’ve just stepped through a time warp. Hey! Look at me! In the lobby, Garfield hasn’t been released yet. But now that I’m in the theatre, I’m seeing Sith!
Anyway. There’s the bag. It uses the “Peeking Garfield” design on one side. On the other side, you’ll find this:
Isn’t it cute? Garfield’s tail peeks up from the bottom of the design. You can’t see it, but somewhere, Garfield is mooning us.
Don’t think about that too hard, or you might blow a brain cell or two.
Now, I’m going to show you the front design of the bag again. Because I think it bears repeating.
This is a quick lesson in design. Always consider where your design is going.
For instance – in the design above, Garfield’s head from the nose up has been put on the bottom half of a popcorn bag. It would be wise to recognize that the majority of Americans hold their popcorn bags in their laps.
I repeat.
Popcorn bags go in the lap.
If you’re having trouble seeing why this is a problem, then you might want to check out this handy illustration detailing what you see when you look down at the popcorn bag in your lap. (if you have a good imagination, I recommend not clicking the link – I don’t have the prettiest lap in the world)
Granted – not everybody is going to think this. And not everybody is going to be willing to admit that they see it. But the fact remains – somebody didn’t consider their design before they sent it to the printers.
And no, reversing the bag doesn’t help matters.